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Intro to Astronomy

I am far from a scientist myself, but I must admit to feeling a great sense of excitement when I hear about the newest discoveries and ideas in the sciences. This past week I listened to a discussion between two astronomers, Ken Croswell and Craig Wheeler, about the year in astronomy on MPR. All the talk of new planets and black holes and stars has my curiosity stuck in a flurry of placing holds on the library’s web site for science books that I’ll probably check out and not actually read. Oh, I’ll browse through them, but I’m not likely to read enough of them to put them on my “read” list. Unless they’re children’s books, of course. I love children’s science books.

I started with Ken Croswell’s books. The Lives of Stars and 10 Worlds: Everything That Orbits the Sun look to be about my speed when it comes to science. I’m excited to read these books, but I must admit they probably won’t make a year-end favorite list. My favorite science books are less about science and more about stories. I guess that’s why I love Catherine Thimmesh’s Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon. For me, what really gets me interested in science is the behind the scenes. That’s what I love about Radiolab. Of course, as I mentioned in this post the genius of Radiolab seems to be that it sticks pretty close to the third grade level in their science. Though you wouldn’t know it to listen to the show. Or I wouldn’t anyway. :)

6 thoughts on “Intro to Astronomy”

I always love seeing that astronomy’s finally making its way out there into the mainstream more and more because it’s a subject that I’ve found almost everyone’s interested in at some level. I’ll keep an eye out for Neil DeGrasse Tyson too!

Secular Thursday started with non-religious homeschoolers trying to form a community within the larger (mostly religious) homeschooling community. I just jumped in fairly recently, and I’d love for more people to join in. :)